


Redo

by Severeance



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Do-Over, Good Severus Snape, He Just Needs Believable Character Development, M/M, Master of Death, Master of Death Harry Potter, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Slytherin Harry, Some Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-25
Updated: 2016-11-29
Packaged: 2018-09-02 04:33:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8651332
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Severeance/pseuds/Severeance
Summary: Harry Potter is the master of Death. He is also a bit bored. So he decides to relive his life and change maybe just a few things. Well, actually he changes a lot of things.





	1. Chapter 1

Out of all of the eleven year old children waiting to be sorted one stood out from all the rest. Really, he was literally standing a few steps away from the huddle of children. He had a dispassionate air around him and stood up straight. His near-black hair reached his shoulder blades and was tied into a limp ponytail at the nape of his neck.  One could almost confuse him for an aristocrat.  He was fairly taller than the other first years and had already begun to lose the chubbiness most children have in their cheeks until they near adulthood.

 

It was neither his height nor his nonchalance about everything around him that piqued one’s interest. His eyes were a verdant green.  Whilst his ashen face created a contrast that made his eyes appear as if they were glowing. They seemed to have the strength of a seasoned soldier, while simultaneously having the frailty of stained glass. They looked almost as if they had seen too much for a person of any age, never mind an eleven year old child.

 

The sorting began. The various names of the four houses were called out in no particular order, over and over again. Then finally-

 

“Potter, Harry,” Minerva McGonagall’s stern voice projected. The boy that had held at least a sliver of everyone’s attention walked from his place towards the stool that was positioned in front of everyone. His eyes flittered around the Great Hall. They never landed on one place for more than a few moments before moving on the next place.

 

Harry Potter finally reached the stool and sat down onto it. The hat that would decide where he would be spending the next seven years was placed on his head by Professor McGonagall.

 

 _“Very interesting...”_ The hat remarked inside Harry’s head.

 

 _Of course my mind’s going to be interesting, I’m nearing two thousand years old._ Harry replied to the hat snappily.

 

_“Alright, no need to bite my head off. Not that I actually have one anyways. So which house would you like to be in?”_

_You’re letting me choose?_ Harry snorted. The entire school heard his snort. They began to wonder what was happening with his sorting that made him make such an unbecoming noise.

 

_“Well, you’ve never given me much of a choice before, have you?”_

Harry inwardly shrugged.  He didn’t actually shrug, but both he and the Sorting Hat could tell it was the equivalent of a mental shrug.  _Surprise me._

 _“Then how about I put you in_ SLYTHERIN!”

The entire hall heard this. The applause that had already begun to build by the Gryffindor table ceased immediately.  Severus Snape actually looked somewhat startled. Harry watched as the Professor reeled in his reaction. Albus Dumbledore seemed to be a bit disappointed. While Filius Flitwick had fallen off of his chair.

 

Harry felt a twinge of pity; it would take a good few minutes before Professor Flitwick could make his way back up to the chair where he had been sitting.

 

With a graceful jump, he made his way off of the stool and towards where the Slytherin table was. He’d heard a polite clapping from the table after his new house had been called, but that was most likely out of respect for a new addition to Slytherin and not because of himself.

 

He chose a chair that was out of the way of the other students. Absolutely so desire whatsoever presented itself when the thought of talking to what would now be his fellow housemates for the next seven years crossed his mind. There wasn’t much he could learn from any of them. He did have about twenty more lifetimes of knowledge than they did.

 

 _Mind Altering Potions_ was the title of his newest book. He unshrunk it with wandless magic as he took it out of his pocket. His Holly wand was nearly forgotten in his school trunk, also shrunk and stored on his person. He laid the book flat on his table and began to read. He also made a mental note to take his wand out of his trunk when he went to bed that night.

 

Severus Snape would probably get on his case if he noticed him reading when he should be playing attention. He had already decided on playing the hand of cards that included him pretending to be somewhat affected by his abuse from the Dursleys. This would be somewhat true if he were a normal child. For some reason the Dursleys had decided to be a lot harsher on him in this life than any of his other lives where he had decided not to live with them. This wasn’t that often, he was usually living out another person’s adventure somewhere else in the world.

 

The meal came and went. He half-heartedly listened to Dumbledore’s announcements. Many years at war and hours spent honing his occlumency had allowed him to split his focus completely and utterly. This meant that he could be doing multiple tasks at any time. He could even write two completely different stories at once without feeling mentally taxed in any way. He had tried that and it had worked. Both the stories were complete and utter crud. He was never made to be a writer.

 

 Dumbledore finished his announcements; none were new to Harry of course. The Slytherin prefects stood up and gathered the first years so that they could be herded to their dormitories. Harry kept his distance from anyone on the walk back. He still had absolutely no desire to strike up a conversation with any of the children. They were immature bags of bones ad far as he was concerned.

 

The one prefect practically hissed the password once they had finally reached their dormitories.

“ _Wolfsbane,”_ The prefect said to the entrance to the common room. He turned to the students, “The password is changed weekly. The new password will be written on a parchment and tacked to the wall next to the door every Sunday. Please don’t forget it.” The prefect said to them succinctly. It was obvious the prefect, like Harry Potter, did not want to spend any more time with the first years than he absolutely had to.

 

The group entered the common room. It was decorated in greens and silvers, that much was expected out of them. It was slightly colder than most places in the castle and many students still had outer robes on. Hopefully, their actual rooms wouldn’t be this cold. If so, he would have to cast a warming charm over his bed.  This was probably the reason why it was so cold in here. There was only spelled glass separating them and the murky depths of the water. He could even hear it. It was actually kind of surreal. His eyes followed an unknown creature darting around.

 

“Wait here,” the prefect told them before turning away to go and fetch someone. They waited a few moments before beginning to talk amongst themselves. Harry just sighed and opened his book. It was getting quite interesting at this point. He had reached the stronger potions that couldn’t be undone. They, of course, were also more complicated.

 

A dark figure walked out of the shadows. Almost every single first year Slytherin jumped or gasped. One even gave a small shriek. Draco would of course vehemently deny ever shrieking in the future.  It had obviously come from a girl; his shriek was _not_ that high-pitched.

 

Severus Snape looked the new additions to his house up and down. As he had suspected, there were many children that belonged to dark families and families that erred away from the light. There were still a few other children that weren’t purebloods, even a few muggleborns, as with every year. The stigma of his house consisting of only dark purebloods was completely unfounded.

 

“Good evening. I would congratulate you for making it into Slytherin, but I’m not. The next seven years of your life are going to be spent with the individuals standing around you.  You are to keep any of your petty squabbles behind these doors. We are under much scrutiny by the other houses and must present a united front. If I catch wind of you fighting with _anyone_ you will be punished. Am I clear?”

 

Severus Snape asked this almost rhetorically. Nods of consent rippled through the group anyways. Professor Snape glared disapprovingly, “Can I get verbal consent?” A cacophony of _yes Sirs_ were heard from the group.

 

The Professor nodded minutely. “Sort out your beds between yourselves. Your names are on the doors to your dormitory rooms. There are two rooms for each year. I will give each of you your schedule during breakfast tomorrow. It is at seven o’ clock. Do not be late.”

 

With that the man stalked away from the group of first years. As he was walking away he called out, “Potter, come with me.”

 

“Potter’s in trouble.” One of the Slytherin first years called out. Harry ignored them and walked to where Professor Snape had gone. The students had already started to copy the Professor’s lead and call him _Potter_.  He still didn’t know what he should think of Snape. Should he trust the man and tell him everything, or was that a bit of a stupid plan?

 

After a few steps Harry came to a door. It was obviously the door to Professor Snape’s office. He would probably have another door somewhere else in a corridor somewhere in the castle. The actual office could be anywhere; the magic in Hogwarts was like that. Harry gave a quick look around the room.  It was quite nice, very bare however and decorated in greens. There was a mostly empty desk and a seat on either side. The more comfortable seat was already occupied by Severus Snape.

 

“Potter, would you care to divulge a reason for your appalling lack of conduct during the opening feast?”

 

Harry tightened his grip around _Mind Altering Potions_.  He let his eyes drop to his shoes. They were of good quality and had some charms on them to grow with him for a bit and to resist any form of damage to a certain point. He had brought them a while back during one of his trips to Diagon Alley. He had absolutely did not want to wear the second-hand trainers he had been oh so graciously given to him from Dudley. After he’d outgrown them and romped through the muddiest parts of town of course.

 

“Answer me Potter, I’m waiting.”

 

“Umm, well, you see, Sir.” Harry said unhelpfully.

 

“Sit down!” Severus Snape barked. Harry hurried to comply.

 

    Harry Potter had been owner to all of the Hallows since his first life. Since then, he’d been allowed to live any life he wished. All he needed to do was to ask Death to place him in the correct mind.  He didn’t even have to be placed in the chosen mind at birth. He could begin a new life at any stage of his “host’s” natural life. Not that it messed with the future that much. The theory of parallel universes was explained to him within five minutes of dying for real in his first life.

 

This time he had decided that he wanted to be placed in a seven-year-old Harry Potter’s head. He didn’t remove all of the memories and personality of the previous “inhabitant” of the body, so much as absorb them.

 

He could access all of the memories of this Harry Potter, up until his seventh birthday. He was actually helping the kid at any rate. By the time seven-year-old Harry Potter was eleven-year-old Harry Potter his mind would have been unsalvageable to even the best Mind-healer.

 

The Dursley’s had been extremely abusive in this world. Right now he was supposed to be suffering from a cracked rib or two, a broken right wrist, and was completely covered in bruises on most of his body. This was his punishment for not addressing Vernon properly as he had been taught to. He was extremely lucky that he could heal himself wandlessly. Or else there would be no Harry Potter to even grace the halls of Hogwarts in this lifetime.

 

“Answer me Potter,” Snape said sternly.

 

“I was listening, I promise!” Harry said to Snape.

 

“I do not care is you are listening or not. It is rude to blatantly show that you are not paying attention. You have not even been in Slytherin for five minutes and you have already disgraced the house. You’re just like your father.” Snape reprimanded Harry.

 

“Aunt Petunia used to say that when I didn’t finish my chores list.” Harry mused to himself. He knew Snape was listening though. He just could not resist the temptation of playing around with the man’s views of him.

 

If he really messed up with anything he could just use the handy time turner Death personified had gifted him a while back.  It hung around his neck and the actual time-turner part was shrunken down while the chain was still full size. It was a nice gift even though he actually could have just called on Death whenever he wanted to.

 

Snape had noticed that comment; he didn’t really let it get to him though. “Your relatives have done a hideous job of teaching you manners.”

 

“Sir, they didn’t have much time to teach me manners. Not when I had to make breakfast, do the dishes, vacuum and mop the house, dust, mow the lawn, do the laundry—“

 

“Potter stop making up stories,” Snape interrupted.

 

“Oh but I’m not sir,” Harry said sincerely to Snape. Again he started mumbling to himself but still in hearing range of Snape, “But no matter how well I did my chores Uncle Vernon would always punish me…” He trailed off.

 

“Punish you Potter?”

 

‘Yes sir, he used to hit me with his belt. The worst was when he was drinking, he would never know when to stop,” He gasped as if he couldn’t believe he had just said that. Then he looked Snape straight in the eye, “Please don’t tell him I told you that. I don’t want to get locked in my cupboard again.”

 

Snape looked at the child for a moment; he didn’t seem to be abused. In fact, the boy seemed to be the exact opposite. He didn’t seem too scared of adults, he didn’t shy away too much, and he had brand new clothes on.

 

Just to be sure Snape looked into Potter’s eyes. He silently incanted the spell hoped to Merlin that Potter was lying. The spell wasn’t as strong as if he had said it aloud or with a wand for that matter. The spell would only allow him to grazes the surface thoughts of Potter, but then again, he wouldn’t need to delve any further. They were busy talking about it at the moment.

 

Snape nearly jerked back in shock. The boy was definitely not lying. He saw an image of what he assumed to be the boy’s uncle standing over him. Potter’s face was devoid of any emotion and he just sat there like a rag doll as then man rained blow after blow on the boy with the buckle of a belt. The metal bit into the child’s skin. Then the man kicked Potter a few times and spat in his face. Potter still did not react.

 

“You deserve this you filthy freak! You are just like your good-for-nothing parents. You don’t even have manners. You’re lucky you’re going to that ruddy school for the next few months and you better enjoy my going-away present! I can’t believe I’ve been roped into taking you tomorrow.” A sharp ‘ _thwack!’_ sounded followed by a cracking noise.

 

The tirade had echoed through Potter’s head as Snape watched the memory. The crack had to have been one of Potter’s ribs breaking or at least cracking from the force that the pig of a man was kicking with his booted foot. This had happened the day before school, and Potter was already completely healed?

 

“Sir, are you finished looking in my mind?” Harry asked Snape.

 

Snape looked startled for a moment, “You could tell?”

 

“It’s like an incessant headache that won’t go away. Don’t worry; I just happen to be very sensitive to that sort of thing. Before you ask it was accidental magic that healed me, sorta.” Well now he would have to tell everything to Professor Snape, or else the man would become suspicious.

 

“Be clear in your explanations, Potter.”

 

“Would you ever believe me if I told you that I held ownership to all three Hallows and that I am nearing two thousand years old?” Well that sounded like a real lie. It was the truth though.

 

“That is preposterous. What drivel are you trying to feed me now?”

 

“You could always look into my head again; there are a few other things I could show you. I just wanted you to first see that Potter’s spawn wasn’t actually pampered.”

 

“If you aren’t Harry Potter, then who are you?” Snape narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

 

“I was always Harry Potter. Just cast the spell and with your wand. I’ll be giving you a guided tour of my mind.”

 

Snape looked reluctant. Harry understood, his reluctance was all for good reason. If he was in the Professor’s positon he wouldn’t believe it himself. “I don’t bite unless you ask, but then that’s a bit of a different story.” Ashen cheeks gained a bit of colour at the innuendo.

 

“ _Legilimens_.” Snape said, trying to ignore the innuendo and focusing on what Harry was to show him.

 

A couple minutes later both Harry Potter and Severus Snape gained their full awareness.  Harry yawned and stretched in his seat.

 

“Thank you for allowing myself to explain everything to you sir I appreciate having someone trustworthy to have my secret.”

 

“How exactly would you know that I am trustworthy? I could have every single secret I know regarding Harry Potter tortured out of me for all you know.” Snape said.

 

Harry pondered for a moment before saying, “You’re right, do you mind just quickly making a wand oath? I don’t want anything drastic. Just a simple ‘I, Severus Snape promise not to talk to anyone about anything Harry potter tells me unless it is for a reason that Harry Potter deems worthy.’ It also protects you against Veritaserum and other truth-gathering means.”

 

“It isn’t very specific.” Snape said.

 

“It’s not very specific in your favour. I know that you’re not going to be spouting my information all willy-nilly. This can work in your favour, it allows you govern what you can and can’t say to an extent. So now you’re able to brag about by brilliant Potions skills to all of the other teachers.” He smiled proudly.

“Alright,” Snape acquiesced, “I Severus Tobias Snape promise not to talk to anybody about anything Harry potter tells me unless it is for a reason that Harry potter deems worthy.” Snape repeated the oath word-for-word. The air shimmered for a moment before it settled.

 

“Now that that’s done, I’m going to bed. Goodnight Professor Snape. Sleep tight, don’t let the bedbugs bite.” Harry said uncharacteristically to Snape and walked out the door.

 

There were a few moments of silence. The Snape realised three things. The first was that Harry Potter was in Slytherin. The second was that Harry Potter was apparently nearly two thousand years old. The third and final thing was that he still had not docked points for Harry Potter being a brat, but then it would be docking points from Slytherin before the term had even properly started yet.

 

Harry Potter on the other hand had only one realisation: There were probably bed bugs on his bed. He needed his wand to remedy that problem and _now._

 

 


	2. Chapter 2

Harry woke up. He kept his eyes closed took a deep breath. Then he stretched and breathed out. The gentle swishing sound of water that came from the lake was actually very relaxing.

 

“Potter, you sound worse than my grandfather and he’s turning one hundred and forty next year.”

 

Harry heard a voice say this to him. Instantly his eyes shot open and started to dart about the room madly. He adopted a defensive position and held his wand in his hand after he had managed to get it out its holster with a quick shake of wrist.

 

“No need to hex me,” The voice defended.

 

Then Harry realised that he was in Hogwarts. He was wearing a pair of black sleeping pants, unlike the other boys who also had a top on as well as their sleep pants. The room was decorated predominantly in greens and silver. Then he noticed the room’s occupants, all of them from his school years and looking to be eleven or twelve years old.

 

Then he remembered. He was now eleven and had been sorted into Slytherin the previous night, and he also remembered telling Snape everything about him and about him being the master of Death.

 

He really hated being so foggy when he woke up. One of these days he was going to make a mistake. Winding back time was a quick solution to any of his problems. Still he preferred not to have the problem to fix in the first place. How he was envious of those people that could wake up and remember various events almost instantly.

 

 He finally made eye contact with the voice that had spoken to him. Theodore Nott. Theodore Nott was actually a good person. He wasn’t actually Death Eater material but had been corrupted in later years. Most likely his father had finally turned the child to the dark side; he was a loyal Death Eater.

 

He should probably make amends. “Sorry, I’ve never been the best with mornings.” He lowered his head slightly to look apologetic and scratched his neck.

 

“We all have those moments.” Theodore Nott waved Harry’s over-reaction away. “But are you alright? You groaned like my grandfather and I’m pretty sure you’re still eleven.”

 

Well that’s what happens when your mind is over two thousand years old. You groan like an old person every time you stretch because you’ve gotten so used to being old. Youth does not last forever, even if you have the Elixir of Life.

 

“I always need to stretch after I’ve slept.”  A childhood living in a tiny cupboard will do this to you. Harry shrugged and then started to begin his daily routine.

 

It was actually quite surprising that Theodore Nott was even awake at this time. A quick _tempus_ showed the time: 5AM. 

 

It was expected of Harry. He had already had the early alarm set. It was a simple spell and it forced someone awake without it being a bother to others. It was a lot more efficient than an alarm.

 

Harry looked at Nott, who was busy digging through his trunk for his robes. “Why are you up so early? It’s only five.”

 

“I guess I’m a bit excited for my first day at Hogwarts. I always have trouble sleeping when I’m excited. Why are you up so early anyways?” Nott tilted his head just slightly. It made him look similar to a puppy.

 

“Me? I always wake up at this time.” Harry replied.” He took the book he was reading from under his pillow and opened it up and began to read. It was an odd habit of his, storing his books under his pillow when he went to sleep. It was just a habit born out of laziness.

 

Harry looked up from his book when he heard Nott start to talk, “By the way, I’m Theodore Nott. I don’t like Theodore that much.  So I go by Theo.”

 

“It was a pleasure to meet you Theo. I should probably introduce myself as Harry Potter, but…”

 

“Everyone knows who you are.” Theo said jokingly.

 

“There was an entire shelf devoted to me when I went to Diagon Alley. It was frankly terrifying. Apparently, I can speak Mermish, I once flew in to save a person on a bunch of owls, and my personal favourite was the time rumours went around that I was the master of Death.”

 

Theodore laughed, “Everyone knows it’s just a fairy tale.” Theo exited the dormitory and headed to the showers.

 

Harry turned his attention to his book and began to read a bit. Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to burn every bridge before they were built. Theodore Nott proved to be a half-interesting conversationalist actually. He kind of regretted his thoughts about how he didn’t really want to socializer with any of the children his “age”.

 

He was feeling somewhat irritated yesterday. Vernon had reluctantly dropped him off at the train station and the entire ride he lectured Harry on various things. Dudley, who still had his pig tail, requested a bathroom break every few minutes or so. Harry was extremely glad that he’d even made it to the Hogwarts Express in time before it left for Hogwarts.

 

 

He also had a throbbing headache the night before from Dudley’s incessant whining.

 

Maybe he should try to be slightly more sociable this time round. If any of the children proved to be dunderheads he would just pass that bridge when it came. They were only eleven at this time. Even Harry himself was not the most entertaining conversationalist to adult. 

 

He decided to stop on the bridge metaphors and turned his full focus to his next book _The Trivial Titbits of Time Travel by Thyme Tempus._ It was quite the alliteration. He had already finished his other book during the night.

 

The book was interesting. It talked about the various different laws and the reasons behind them. It also went quite in detail into how a time turner was made. Not that Harry even needed that information. He had a time turner around his neck and if that failed he could just call on his good old pal, Death to change a few things here and there for him or just pop Harry back in time. It was his little _get out of jail free key_ but for his life.

 

Theo walked into the dorms. He now had his Hogwarts robes on with the Slytherin colours. He put everything that he needed to away and looked to Harry, “Breakfast is at seven. To you want to join me in the common room for a game of exploding snap in a few minutes?” He asked Harry.

 

“Sure thing,” Harry put his bookmark into the books and put it under his pillow again. “I just want to quickly shower, I won’t be more than ten minutes.” He walked quickly to the showers after making his bed.

 

Six minutes later Harry exited the showers. He hated showering when there were other people on there with him even to this day. He entered the common room. It was mostly empty. Apart from a few of the higher years doing some reading or talking at a near-library level tone.

 

Slytherins were definitely more reserved and less rowdy than Gryffindors were. It made him quite glad that the sorting hart had opted to place him in the house of the snakes. He didn’t know if he would be able to manage with the Gryffindors at his age. The challenge would probably be even greater because he would have Ron and Hermione to contend with as well.

 

He spotted Theo on one of the couches. Harry waved and made his way over to Theo. Harry had to admit, he hadn’t played exploding snap in quite a long time. It would have to be a couple of centuries at least. His last few lives were spent doing more exotic things than the mundane Harry Potter life.

Harry Potter was the master of Death. He was nearly two thousand years old. He was not giggling like a loon as he played exploding snap with a near-stranger. He was definitely not giggling.

“Potter, you’re giggling like a girl.” Theo said to him after another explosion nearly took off his eyebrows. Not that exploding snap was _that_ violent, but it had happened before. They were both sitting Slytherin common room on the floor. Harry had a pile of cards in front of him that was teetering precariously. Theo was down to his last few dregs.

 

After a few moments Harry calmed down. He looked embarrassed. “I’m sorry about that. I’ve never really been allowed to act like a kid. When I was brought up I was always trained _do this_ and _do that_ and _you’re doing it wrong you little-_.  I’m here though now. Call me Harry by the way, if I’m calling you Theo, you should at least call me Harry.” He added the ‘c _all me Harry’_ part in as an afterthought.

 

It was true though. He never did have a proper childhood in his first life and it would often come out at weird times. Even though he could have been classed as an adult for aeons he still became childish when he was a child again. Maybe that should explain how children act sometimes, but then some children never grow out of it. He shrugged.

 

It was nearing six now. Now Harry had been kind enough to play the game with Theo, but he did want to continue with his book. He decided to attempt to be a good influence.

 

“I heard that if you know all the theory and that it makes doing magic a lot easier. It also helps the teachers like you a bit more.”

 

“I don’t know which lesson we’ve got first.” Theo shrugged.

 

“Then do you want to study for them all?” Harry asked.

 

“Alright,” Theo said and joined Harry as they walked to their dorm and got their books for the lesson. Harry just grabbed his book from under his pillow. Theo had all of his books for Potions, Transfiguration and Charms.

 

Theo had a few books spread out around him on the carpeted floor while Harry sat in a position that most would deem uncomfortable at first sight, but was actually extremely comfortable, in an uncomfortable way.

 

“Why aren’t you also studying?” Theo looked up from his books to ask. He looked at Harry’s lone book, the time travel one he had been reading the whole morning.

 

Harry didn’t look up from his page, “I’ve already studied.” He told Theo.

 

“You can’t know a book of-by-heart though, you can always study more.”

 

Harry began to talk; he began with what seemed to be an introduction. When Theo heard the word Transfiguration he opened his Transfiguration book and he heard Harry repeat all of the information word-for-word. He also saw Harry turn the pages of his book twice, but far too quickly for it to be written in the book at any rate.

 

“You Slytherin,” Theo accused, “You got me to study while you just wanted to read your book. You could have told me I was bothering you.”

 

“But you aren’t bothering me I quite like you, for a Slytherin anyways.” Harry joked with Theo.

 

“How can you do that anyways, you starting repeating the entire books while you’re reading and now you’re talking and reading?”

 

“I’m good at multitasking. One might confuse me for a woman at times with my multitasking abilities.” Harry told Theo, he didn’t want to have to explain that he was extremely good at Occlumency. It would probably end up with him having to teach the child.

 

Teaching Occlumency involved pretty much what Snape had done. You had to forcefully push your way into someone’s mind so that they could learn what it felt like. They also had to practice clearing their mind before sleeping. It also helped a person fall asleep faster. Death had given him training in order to strengthen his ‘abysmal’ shields after his first death at 137.

 

At least now he had the strongest Occlumency shields of any person ever. He was also quite skilled in Legilimency.  He could probably get into Snape’s mind undetected if he really wished to. But he was partial to the man. He wouldn’t want to invade someone’s privacy when he didn’t hate them or feel absolutely neutral to them. He still didn’t have many qualms about invading people’s minds. He just felt a slight twinge of guilt when he entered the minds of those that he deemed friends. Even then it was a bit of a grey area to him.

 

The two boys read in silence for a while. Eventually most of Slytherin house began to wake up. The bustle increased. Harry hadn’t noticed it but the common rooms were warmer than they were the previous night. Maybe it was the fact that the fire had been burning the entire night and would continue to permanently burn throughout the term in order to give heat to the rooms.

 

Theodore looked up at Harry. “We should probably get going if we don’t want to be late to breakfast.”

 

Harry closed his book with a light snap. He looked up comically excited. “We don’t want to miss breakfast. It’s the most important meal of the day, isn’t it?”

 

“I guess it is.” Theo said apprehensively. Not sure what Harry was planning. He may have only really spent about two hours in each other’s company and less than half of than even talking. However, he already knew that when Harry Potter was planning something. It was ensured pandemonium.

 

Once the boys were ready they set out to find the Great Hall. Harry had his trunk shrunk and place in his pocket. It was also under a fancy little charm he had learned a while back kept anyone else from taking it from him. They would receive a nasty shock if they even tried.

 

The trunk also had a feather light charm and a fancy little charm that Harry had created ages ago. It allowed him to simply reach his hand into his pocket and think of the object he wished to get out and it would get summoned as if an _Accio_ were cast on it. Then the delayed unshrinking charm would come into play and only shrink it after it was out of his pocket. It was still fast enough to seem as if it had never been shrunk when he took it out of his robe‘s pocket.

 

Theo on the other hand was lugging all of his textbooks around. He wasn’t sure what subjects they were going to have today and he didn’t really want to have to go back to the dorms and get lost again on the way back if he could help it. At least after thy got their schedule they could plan their trips a bit better, and once he had learned the layout of the castle.

 

“I can’t remember the way to The Great Hall from here,” Theo said he looked slightly nervous at the prospect of being late for breakfast, “Do you wanna go straight or turn left here?”

 

Harry, who knew the layout of the castle pretty damn well by now, looked at the two options. The first option would lead straight to The Great Hall and give them quite a few minutes to spare, but the other one would also eventually lead to The Great Hall, but it would ultimately take a great deal longer.

 

 

“Straight,” He said after a few moments of mulling it over. It was just a lucky guess. He did know the answer before he guessed though.

 

They made it into the great hall and seated themselves at the Slytherin table. There were only about two more minutes until 7AM. Harry gave a cursory glance around the Great Hall. Most of the Slytherin first years hadn’t arrived. The rest of Slytherin was already seated. Gryffindor was a complete mess. The Ravenclaws sat quietly and it looked like most of them were there, as well as the Hufflepuffs.

 

Had breakfast been similar to this when Harry was in Hogwarts? He’d only ever been in Gryffindor, a grand total of three times buy now. But he had never noticed the difference between the tables and how they acted.

 

“Just one announcement before we begin our meal.” The headmaster said as he looked from one end to the other of the great hall. “Would everyone please stay behind after breakfast? The head of each of the four houses will then give you’re your schedules for the rest of the year. Thank you.” He sat down again.

 

The food appeared on the tables and many of the students hungrily dug in. A few of the Slytherin first years slunk into the great hall but they weren’t missed by Snape’s beady eyes. Malfoy didn’t pay much attention to Snape. The brat acted as if the entire world had to pander to him, which it most likely did. Harry could not wait until his “peers” grew up.

 

Then maybe he would have _some_ chance of logically explaining things to them and persuading them to not take part in the war which he hoped to prevent in the first place.

 

“So you’re _the_ Harry Potter?” Malfoy asked snootily.

 

“Last time I checked.” Harrys replied.

 

“Shouldn’t you be eating with _them_?” Malfoy somehow indicated to the Gryffindor table with little more of a tilt of an eyebrow. Harry really needed to learn how to do that.

 

He looked down at his robes for a moment before looking at Malfoy and saying, “Well I am decked out in Green. I could always dress up as a Christmas tree if I felt like it. Then maybe the Gryffindors would accept me.”

 

He could feel last night’s headache coming back to him.

“Anyways,” he continued and looked Malfoy straight in the eye, “Aren’t you supposed to be in trouble? I mean, you dad come in late after Professor Snape specifically warned us not to be late. How will you handle being such a disgrace to Slytherin?”

 

The colour’s drained from Malfoy’s cheeks. He had heard rumours about Snape’s punishments to the Slytherins. The man did not take points, but rather you had to make up for it my numerous detentions. The amount of detentions the man held was almost impossible. He would have to have a time turner.

 

“I’ll give you a deal. I’ll get you out of trouble with Professor Snape if you agree to stop being such a brat—“

 

“I’m not a prat!” Draco near shouted.

 

Harry glanced towards Snape, “Oops, I think y0oou just earned another detention.”

 

Malfoy’s actually looked almost terrified. HE must have heard one of the more fabricated stories of Snape’s detentions. Those were usually just made up to scare the first years, and the Hufflepuffs.

 

“If you agree to try to be a nicer person and to stop being a prat to everyone how you want to be treated.”

 

“But that’s so unfair.” Malfoy whined.

 

“What is?” Harry asked like he didn’t already know what Malfoy’s argument was going to be.

 

“You want me to do so much and you have to do nothing.”

 

“Draco,” Harry specifically used Malfoy’s first name to irk him, “I’m getting you out of trouble with Professor Snape. I’m probably going to be the first student in our year to serve a detention. For the entire first month, and you think I’m doing nothing?”

Malfoy thought for a moment, “Okay.” He said uncertainly.

 

“Great! Does this mean we’re friends?” Harry asked. He held out his hand for Malfoy to shake. This was almost symbolic of the poor child’s attempted friendship with him so many years ago. Maybe Malfoy would learn social skills a little bit earlier this time around.

 

They shook hands. Harry smiled warmly and saw a small smile come back from Malfoy. He gave thumbs up.

 

The Weasley twins who had been waiting and watching for this moment nodded from across the hall. They had already sorted it out on the train ride to Hogwarts. They began to count to a hundred so that Harry’s thumbs-up wouldn’t be linked to what they were planning to do. Of course, Harry had specifically asked for himself to be included in the prank as well.

 

After they reached a hundred they did the spell. It was a simple switching charm that would change the pumpkin juice to something a little bit more… interesting. Harry felt the wave of magic from the prank as it was played out took a sip from his pumpkin juice almost immediately. He did wait for at least three Slytherins to do it themselves before he did it.

 

His robes almost immediately changed colour to the Gryffindor red and his hair went the same colour. He was pretty sure that if he examined his hair the mirror closely he would even find a few tinges of gold here and there.

 

He looked at Draco who not had the yellow robes that denoted the Hufflepuff house. His hair was changed to a pattern of yellow and black that could get one like him confused for a bee at times. Harry began to laugh.

 

The potion was simple: It would change the colour of a person’s hair and their robes to the house they were most suited to other than the one they were in. It was one good natured fun.

 

Theo had gotten his hair and robes turned blue.  Quite a few of the Slytherins had fallen for the prank before they managed to catch on. Not that Harry minded. He just wanted to nab Malfoy. Besides, the potion only lasted for the day, but t changed every one of the person’s robes so they couldn’t just go up to their dorm and change.

 

He had an agreement with the Weasley twins. They would alternate the houses until every house had gotten duped by the prank. It was a great way that one would get to know another. Harry wouldn’t admit it, but he was the one that gave the twins the idea and he gave them the potion to do it with.

 

It was the start of a beautiful friendship with them. Well not that he would call it a friendship per say, but more of a partnership.

 

He was an ingenious prankster if he could consider it not as bragging, but as a well-earned self-affirmation. Thinking up the odd prank was one of his on-off past times. There wasn’t much chance for him to use any of his ideas, but now was the perfect time. He was in Hogwarts and the son of one of the most notorious Hogwarts pranksters in history.

 

The heads of houses soon came down from the teacher’s table and began to hand out the schedules to the students. Breakfast had already stopped being meant for eating and was more socializing time once the twins had set their prank into motion.

 

Snape handed the schedule to Harry. He had charms today. He scanned the list and saw that he had a double potions lesson on that Friday. That would definitely be a fun lesson now wouldn’t it? How was he going to dumb himself down so much that he would only seem like an exceptionally gifted first year? At least he could be slightly smarter than usual at potions, perhaps even present himself as a prodigy?

 

He looked up at the staff table and saw Dumbledore busy talking with Professor Sinistra. By the way the woman was moving her arms so frantically the subject matter that they were discussing was a subject she was passionate about.

 

The four heads of houses were busy handing out the schedules to the students in the hall. Harry gave a quick glance to Quirrel. The first time he had looked at him his entire time at Hogwarts this year. He felt the vaguely familiar twinge in his scar that proved that Voldemort was definitely piggybacking on Quirrel’s head at this point.

 

Maybe he could get the twins to charm snowballs to hit Quirrel’s turban again. This time he’ll be able to enjoy it even more as he now knew exactly what was underneath the hideous turban Quirrel wore. Maybe he could also get something to help with that horrendous garlic-stench that was emanating from Quirrel as well.

 

Quirrel turned to Dumbledore to say something and Harry felt another small pain in his scar as he locked eyes with the turban. He should probably work on getting rid of Voldie as soon as possible if he were to avoid as many deaths in the war as he could.

 

He also had to get a move on with the horcruxes, but first, he needed a second helping of bacon which was still out on the table.


End file.
